Film Review: Mad to be Normal

David Tennant and Elisabeth Moss

Mad To Be Normal reveals the story of R.D. Laing, the famous psychiatrist and one of Scotland's greatest ever minds. Working at Kingsley Hall in East London throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Laing performed various daring experiments on people who were diagnosed as mentally disturbed. His revolutionary methods involved experimenting with LSD on his patients and practicing a form of self-healing known as metanoia, causing outrage and controversy in the medical profession and radically changing attitudes and perceptions of mental health around the world.

David Tennant plays Laing and Elisabeth Moss his girlfriend in this fascinating insight into Laing's controversial work. The two have a convincing on-screen chemistry. As the story unfolds, it proves difficult to sustain a relationship when boundaries between personal lives and work have become blurred.

News: Interview with Sam Love

Welcome to the Flavel team, Sam!
Sam Love has been helping us with social media, marketing and publicity for a while now; and we are delighted that he has recently joined the staff. Read what Sam has to say below.

Could you tell me about your background?
Of course! After finishing college in 2013, I decided against university and opted to pursue a career as an online content creator. With lots of hard work and perseverance, I had created my own company - SML Creative - and was supplying a variety of clients with all kinds of work. While journalistic pieces such as film reviews and festival coverage were my forte, I was always adding new skills to my repertoire and began helping clients with social media management, marketing and publicity. This initially brought me to The Flavel, as I started out by helping with the centre's social media and in-house advertisements.

What attracted you to your new job at the Flavel?
As soon as I started helping The Flavel with the above tasks, I felt passionate for this beautiful little place. I wanted to be part of it officially, in any capacity. When a role came up that included cinema coordination - an area I was extremely interested in - I could not resist throwing my name in the hat. A few weeks later, I had the job! 

What do you like to do in your free time?
When I'm not working, you'll usually find me hypnotised by the spell of classic cinema, buried in a book or getting lost in the sounds of my eclectic vinyl collection - my most treasured album being a copy of The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds signed by Brian Wilson, after meeting him on his current tour. I'm a huge music and film enthusiast but still find plenty of time for the outdoors - and our two cocker spaniels are very grateful! 

Where do you live?
I currently live with my parents and sister here in beautiful Dartmouth. After spending almost our entire lives in Shrewsbury (Shropshire), we decided it was time to finally move to the town that we always considered home. We've been here for almost 8 months, and we've loved every second.